The aforementioned preforms are used in the prior art in beverage production, in order subsequently to be expanded to form beverage containers. It is customary for these containers to pass initially in an unordered fashion onto a sorting device, and in this sorting device to be oriented in a predefined manner in order then to pass in a sorted fashion to a further installation, such as a blowing machine.
EP 1 592 630 B1 discloses an orienting device for bottle preforms for passing through a blowing machine. In said document, a movable inclined device is provided which has a plurality of cells which are intended to hold in each case one preform in a horizontal position. The preforms thus held in the horizontal position are conveyed into a guide slot in which they are rotated due to the particular configuration of this slot and then are conveyed further in this rotated position.
EP 1 690 813 A1 discloses an apparatus and a method for aligning elongate, preferably cylindrical objects having a profiled contour. In this apparatus, the preforms are placed on a rotating disc, pushed outwards by means of the centrifugal force and finally guided into a guide channel. In this apparatus, too, the preforms are rotated or tilted about their longitudinal axis. Prior to tilting, those preforms which are not arranged in a certain desired position with respect to the guide rail are separated out. In order to increase the efficiency of this apparatus, a first guide element is provided, wherein between this guide element and the rotating disc there is a gap which allows the main body of the preforms to pass, but not the respective supporting collar of these preforms. In addition, an additional element is provided which is arranged radially inside the guide element and which brings about a pre-orientation of the preforms.
DE 10 2005 048 126 A1 discloses a method and an apparatus for sorting preforms. Here, the preforms are fed for sorting purposes to a rotatable rotor which positions the preforms along a stationary guide rail under the effect of the centrifugal force, wherein a separation of the preforms is carried out at the outer circumference of this rotor.
It may therefore be desirable to provide an apparatus for sorting preforms which allows a higher operating speed compared to the prior art.